Official program - Woman suffrage procession, Washington, D.C.

Alice Paul organized a national women’s suffrage parade in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 1913. With compelling tactics like parades, she introduced militancy to the movement. Paul, who had been radicalized in England, felt that the state-by-state referenda approach to winning suffrage was old-fashioned. Instead, she broke from the National American Woman Suffrage Association to demand a federal amendment. Shortly after the parade, Paul founded the National Woman’s Party with Lucy Burns. Because they believed contemporary society restricted them, these suffragists looked to historical figures, like Joan of Arc, as examples of powerful, liberated, and faithful women.